By Tyler Durden
Outrage over the shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant has intensified since her death on Tuesday, with activists denouncing it as yet another unjustified police killing, even as police bodycam video clearly shows the young woman raise her knife as if she were about to stab another young girl.
The bodycam footage, which was released by the Columbus PD just hours after the incident, has done little to quell the outrage, possibly because, instead of sharing the unvarnished footage with their audience, MSM outlets have instead engaged in deceptive editing, while the White House has laid it on thick with the virtue signaling.
But a neighbor who owns the home across the street from the spot where she was killed – reportedly right in front of a home owned by her foster parents – has come forward in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch to offer an eye-witness account portraying the shooting as potentially justified – or, at the very least, the result of an extremely difficult split-second decision made in a moment where multiple lives appeared to be in jeopardy.
Donavon Brinson, who recently bought the home from his father, who lived there for 14 years, said that he arrived home from running errands on Tuesday afternoon and saw a commotion among some girls outside.
“They were calling each other the B-word, so I figured it was just a girl fight,” Brinson said.
But when he stepped outside to walk his dog, Max, the situation had escalated. Shortly after he popped back inside, he heard four gunshots ring out across the street. And while his wife hit the floor, he immediately thought about the security camera installed outside his garage, which captured the fight.
After reviewing the footage, he told the newspaper that while what happened is unquestionably tragic, he doesn’t see how the officer involved could have made any other choice but to take action: “It was violent and all just happened so fast,” he said.
The footage from his security camera shows the scene at a much wider angle than the police body camera footage released by the CPD. In it, as many as 7 other young people were on or near the property when the attack occurred. Brinson, whose father also spoke with the Dispatch, said the video has been turned over to police. Readers can watch it here.
Another witness who spoke with the Dispatch, Ira Graham III, was working from home when the incident occurred. He works in registration at Ohio State University’s James Cancer Center and also is a photographer and videographer. He said that while he didn’t know Ma’Khia personally, he had sometimes seen her walking through the neighborhood.
“I believe in truth and facts. Video doesn’t lie,” he said. “She was in full attack mode.”
Bryant “was literally aiming a knife at this young lady,” Graham said of the female in pink. “She needed to be stopped at that point. That young lady’s life was at stake.”
Contacted by the Dispatch, Bryant’s foster mom, who hasn’t been identified in the report, said she was at work when the incident occurred. She declined to say anything else. Another witness who spoke with the Dispatch was seen leaving a bouquet of flowers at a makeshift memorial that sprung up at the spot where Bryant was shot. The 23-year-old young woman, who said she knew Bryant, was somewhat less sympathetic toward the police. She wondered why the cop couldn’t have used a taser. “He should have told her to put down the knife,” Taylor said.
In the video released by the CPD, the officer could be heard repeatedly shouting at Bryant to get down before firing off the shot.
